David Patrick Paul Alton, Baron Alton of Liverpool, KCSG, KCMCO (born 15 March 1951) is a British-Irish politician, formerly a Member of Parliament for the Liberal Party and later Liberal Democrat who has sat as a crossbench member of the House of Lords since 1997 when he was made a life peer. Alton is also known for his human rights work including the co-founding of Jubilee Action, the children's charity (which changed its name to Chance for Childhood in 2014), and serves as chair, patron or trustee of several charities and voluntary organisations.[2]
Born in London on 15 March 1951,[6][7] His father was a Desert Rat who had served in the Eighth Army, and then worked for the Ford Motor Company. His mother was a native Irish speaker from the West of Ireland.[1] After being rehoused from the East End, Alton was brought up in a council flat on an overspill council estate. He passed a scholarship exam to join the first intake of a new Jesuit grammar school and was educated at The Campion School and Christ's College of Education, Liverpool.[6][8] He began his career as a teacher and, in 1972, was elected as a Liberal to Liverpool City Council as Britain's youngest city councillor. Alton was elected for the Low Hill ward, serving from 1972 to 1974, then, after the Local Government Act 1974, he was elected for the Smithdown ward where he served for the next six years. Alton was also a member of Merseyside County Council for the Smithdown division from 1974 to 1977 and chairman of the housing committee. He was deputy leader of Liverpool City Council from 1978 to 1980.[8]
Political career
Alton was elected as Member of Parliament for Liverpool Edge Hill at a by-election in 1979 for the Liberal Party, when he became the "Baby of the House", achieving a record swing of 36.8% and 64% of the vote. He won the seat the day after the Callaghan Government was defeated in a vote of confidence and the 1979 General Election being called. He became the shortest lived MP, a member for less than a week, and made his Maiden Speech within three hours of taking his seat. Five weeks later he was re-elected and went on to serve as a Liverpool MP for 18 years, before standing down. He was the only new member of a Parliamentary Party of 11 MPs. He campaigned on the slogan "Everyone Knows Someone Who Has Been Helped by David Alton."[8] He was notably a very short-serving Baby of the House, as Stephen Dorrell, who was a year younger than Alton, was elected at the 1979 election.
David Alton and his 1979 by-election campaign poster
From 1979 to 1988 he served at various times as spokesman on the environment, home affairs, Northern Ireland and as Chief Whip. He is known for his anti-abortion position, and in 1987 he resigned as Chief Whip to campaign for his unsuccessful private member's bill which aimed to stop late abortions. He became a Liberal Democrat MP when the Liberal Party merged with the SDP in 1988, but he had difficult relations with parts of the party, especially over attempts to make the party adopt a position in favour of abortion rights. In 1992, he announced that he would not stand again as a Liberal Democrat after the party passed a policy that he believed committed the party to support abortion for the first time. A motion passed in Spring 1993 stating that the party had no position on the substantive issue of abortion spared him delivering on the promise.
Alton is chairman of the British-DPRK All-Party Parliamentary Group, and visited Pyongyang in October 2010[11] when he had talks with leaders of the North Korean government including Choe Thae-bok, the chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly.[12]
On 26 March 2021, it was announced that Alton was one of two members of the House of Lords to be sanctioned by China for spreading what it called "lies and disinformation" about the country. He was subsequently banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macau, and Chinese citizens and institutions are prohibited from doing business with him.[13] The sanctions were condemned by the Prime Minister and led the Foreign Secretary to summon the Chinese ambassador.[14][15]
On the 12th December 2022 Alton was sanctioned by Iran, along with the Chief of the Defence Staff (United Kingdom), a Government Minister, Members of Parliament, as well as other individuals and institutions from the UK. It is understood that this was done because of Alton's criticism of Iran's Human Rights record.[16]
Alton was formally denounced by the North Korean regime and told he would be listed as an enemy of their State because of his collaboration with the UN Commission of Inquiry into North Korea which found evidence of crimes against humanity and for providing support to escapees.
Parliamentary Appointments
Alton served on:
House of Lords International Relations and Defence Select Committee from 2019 - 2023.[17]
Joint House of Lords and House of Commons Committee on Human Rights 2023 -.[18]
Professor of Citizenship
In 1997, Alton was appointed Professor of Citizenship at Liverpool John Moores University, establishing the Foundation for Citizenship and the Roscoe Lectures.[19] The lecture series explores citizenship and lectures have been given by commentators including the 14th Dalai Lama and Prince Charles.[20]
Alton established the lobby group for human rights, Jubilee Campaign, in 1987, with the support of other members of parliament. He also co-founded Jubilee Action, a children's charity established to fulfil the humanitarian needs highlighted by the work of Jubilee Campaign. In 2014 Jubilee Action changed its name to Chance for Childhood.[21]
He is a patron of the International Young Leaders Network[23] and Save the Congo!, a small international rights group founded by the Congolese rights activist Vava Tampa to end the political crisis that continues to give rise to wars, conflicts and violence that have killed over 5.4 million people in Congo.[24]
In January 2021, Alton influenced the Lords to pass an amendment to the Trade Act 2021 that "would require that the UK does not trade with genocidal regimes. Importantly, with the United Nations having shown itself incapable of making such decisions, the determination of whether genocide has taken place would be made by the High Court of England and Wales."[29]
Alton received the 2023 Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty. At the presentation the Dean said "He has dedicated his life to fighting oppression and made this noble cause the cornerstone for his work as a politician and public intellectual.”[31]
Alton is married to Elizabeth Bell, they have four children and five grandchildren. Alton holds both British and Irish citizenship, as do his children.[1] He resides in Lancashire and is a Roman Catholic.[8][33][34][35]
Books
Lord Alton has published numerous non-fiction titles:
What Kind of Country? Marshall Pickering 1987
Whose choice anyway? Marshal Pickering 1988
Faith in Britain Hodder & Stoughton 1991
Signs of Contradiction Hodder & Stoughton 1996
Life After Death Christian Democrat Press 1997
Citizen Virtues HarperCollins 1999
Citizen 21 HarperCollins 2001
Pilgrim Ways St Pauls Publishing 2001
Passion and Pain (with Michele Lombardo) and accompanying DVD of TV series 2003
Euthanasia: Getting To The Heart of The Matter (with Martin Foley) 2005
Abortion: Getting To The Heart of The Matter (with Martin Foley) 2005
Building Bridges: Is there Hope for North Korea? (with Rob Chidley) Lion 2013
State Responses to Crimes of Genocide: What Went Wrong and How to Change It (with Dr Ewelina Ochab) Palgrave Macmillan 2022.
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